‘Stupid move’? Entire Australian township may be displaced for expanding coalmine

Trucks wait to be loaded with iron ore at the Fortescue Solomon iron ore mine located in the Valley of the Kings, around 400 km (248 miles) south of Port Hedland in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.(Reuters / David Gray) / Reuters

An entire village in New South Wales may be relocated due to the expansion of a coal mine. Authorities say it will see many positive effects, including boosting the economy and safeguarding hundreds of jobs. Local residents call it “plain stupidity.”

If the proposal is approved then about 350 people will be
relocated, says the report. The enlargement of the mine will
include swallowing up about 698 hectares of land. The document
says Rio Tinto Group, the world’s second-biggest mining company
and owner of the mine, needs to give "serious consideration" to
pay compensation to the village residents.

PAC said that the relocation will see many positive effects,
including boosting the state economy by $1.5 billion and
safeguarding 1,187 jobs over the next 14 years.

"The Hunter region desperately needs this economic boost,
because you only have to look over the last two years and we've
seen almost 2,000 coal miners in the Hunter lose their
jobs," CFMEU Northern District President Peter Jordan said.

Paul Harris, a 54-year-old miner who lives in Bulga, believes the
whole plan is “plain stupidity.”

“I think the PAC is really out of touch, this village is a
sprawl, I’m not sure how you’d relocate everyone,” he told
the Guardian Australia.

@CycloneCharlie8 bit
sad really. Feel sorry for the villagers of Bulga who will be
pushed out just to dig out the coal under it.

“The idea of relocating has not been discussed in the past,
it has come out of the blue,” Harris’s neighbor, 70-year-old
Stewart Mitchell added. “They talk about relocating the
village but there’s no mention of the neighboring properties. How
do you relocate a 180-acre property?"

@mrl58@gerriDarcey PAC "Bulga
moved at the expense of the New South Wales Government and Rio"
Unbelievable.